WT SPORTS BANQUET: Gaines surprised with award

Jordan Mason | jmason@mrt.com

Published 4:05 pm, Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Photo: JAMES DURBIN

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On left, Bob Hards, radio voice of the RockHounds, introduces former Permian football head coach Gary Gaines (right) during the RockHounds Mid-Winter Sports Banquet Wednesday at Midland Country Club. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram less

On left, Bob Hards, radio voice of the RockHounds, introduces former Permian football head coach Gary Gaines (right) during the RockHounds Mid-Winter Sports Banquet Wednesday at Midland Country Club. James ... more

Photo: JAMES DURBIN

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Former Permian football head coach Gary Gaines speaks during the RockHounds Mid-Winter Sports Banquet after receiving the Scott Seator Community Achievement Award Wednesday at Midland Country Club. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram less

Former Permian football head coach Gary Gaines speaks during the RockHounds Mid-Winter Sports Banquet after receiving the Scott Seator Community Achievement Award Wednesday at Midland Country Club. James ... more

Photo: JAMES DURBIN

WT SPORTS BANQUET: Gaines surprised with award

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As speaker after speaker wandered up to the podium at Midland Country Club on Wednesday evening, Gary Gaines admitted he wasn't paying attention.

Approximately three hours earlier, Gaines learned he'd been the victim of a setup, a secret plan that caught him off guard in a way teams rarely did in his eight years as head football coach at Odessa Permian.

"My wife didn't tell me anything about this," Gaines said shortly after arriving at the Midland Sports Banquet where he learned he'd be receiving the Scott Seator Community Achievement Award. "She knew."

Yet Gaines took it all in stride Wednesday, calling it "a great honor" to receive the award and speaking later on his service to the community, which he called the best part of his job as a high school football coach.

"If I've helped one kid, I'll be thankful," Gaines said during his speech. "And I've worked with a bunch of them for 42 years, and that's what it's all about."

Gaines announced Dec. 18, 2012 that he'd coached his last game at Permian, and on Wednesday, said the retirement life, though different, has been treating him well.

Of course, as he implied the day he announced his resignation, Gaines won't be unemployed for long, saying he'd be starting a part-time sales position with Daktronics -- makers of scoreboards, video displays and sound systems -- on Monday Feb. 24.

"I'll still have time to do my manly work around the house, so it'll be fun," Gaines said with a smile.

Gaines also said the part-time position will allow him to continue to spend time around the program that won a state title under his watch in 1989, a luxury that he said he believes will help whenever he needs to scratch the itch to be involved with high school football again.

He said he's already visited Permian on National Signing Day this year, watching three players of his sign letters of intent and meeting his replacement, Blake Feldt, for the first time.

Having seen nearly everything in his time at Permian, Gaines said seeing a former offensive lineman for Midland High take over the Permian program was no surprise to him.

"That doesn't bother me a bit," Gaines said. "As long as he's a good coach, I think everybody will be really happy."

And when asked to reflect on his own time as a Panther, Gaines said that despite the gargantuan expectations that came with following legendary coach John Wilkins in his first stint at Permian, the chance to touch the lives of kids like the ones he watched sign to colleges last week made it all worth it in the end.

"My ego was left at the door a long, long time ago, and I've been kicked around and talked about and all that stuff, and I've grown to have some thick hide," Gaines said. "But really the thing that brings joy to me now, as it does my wife is when we see our former players and see their families and have little reunions here and there all over the state periodically.

"It means a lot because if one of them says just, 'Coach how much we enjoyed playing for you,' it really means a lot."